This Memorial Day weekend, Netflix dropped the new horror film Fear Street: Prom Queen. For those who may not be familiar with the Fear Street brand, it was a series of horror stories penned by RL Stine for his readers who were aging out of his Goosebumps series but were not quite ready for the heavy hitters of horror like Clive Barker and Stephen King. These stories were fantastic as a gateway to horror, typically filled with gruesome deaths, but still not crossing the line with too many adult themes. In 2021 Netflix first released a trilogy of Fear Street films. Personally, I only liked the first two, and the third was relatively forgettable. Now Netflix has released Prom Queen, and while my expectations weren’t exactly high, I still was hoping for something better than what we got.
The film is set in 1988, and Shadyside High is getting ready for prom, and this year the race for prom queen is fiercer than ever. Lori Granger (India Fowler) is a bit of an outsider at her school, mostly because of town gossip surrounding her mother, but she’s decided make a mark at her school and become prom queen. Unfortunately for Lori, the other girls in the running are a group of “mean girls” who call themselves “The Wolfpack”. Their pack leader is Tiffany (Finna Strazza), and it is safe to say they are not happy about having Lori competing for the crown. At least Lori has her best friend Megan (Suzanna Son) as support, even though Megan is just as much of an outsider because of her obsession with horror and pulling harmless yet gory pranks at the school.
When prom night finally arrives, a killer in a red rain slicker shows up and starts picking off the prom queen competition, and this becomes a bit of a whodunit.
The best thing this film had going for it was the friendship between Lori and Megan. Unfortunately the time we get with them is rushed, and when the film gets to the prom, well, they seem to go their separate ways. Another shining spot in this film is Lili Taylor, who plays the conservative vice-principal who makes the most of her screen time, but I simply wish she had more to work with.
What I found most frustrating with this film is that it so badly wants to be an 80s slasher film, but just because you have the 80s-style costumes and some fun 80s tunes, it doesn’t mean you stuck the landing. Instead this film feels like a bad 80s cosplay that just misses the mark. If you want to be an 80s slasher, you need more than just the kills and gore. You need a certain amount of sleaze to go along with it. The film has an R rating, so there is no excuse for this to not just go all out and ramp up the kills and give us some teenage angst and debauchery. Not to mention, how do you try and do an 80s film and not have any of the characters going crazy with the big hair and Aqua Net? Then the film has a moment that was so cringe-worthy I just had to look away from the screen when two characters have a “dance-off” to the song Gloria. All I’ll say is that this for me was the only truly terrifying moment in the film.
While the film certainly pays homage to early classics like Prom Night and Carrie, the film just doesn’t seem to want to be anything more than a paint-by-numbers horror film. A lot of the creative choices just seemed lazy, down to the killer’s costume just being a knockoff from the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise. I mean, there just literally is nothing new here. Then what’s even more frustrating is that some of the film’s humor just seems out of place, like a character losing an arm and saying something to the effect of “Oh, wowzers.” I mean, that’s the kind of dialog I expect from a PG Adam Sandler film, not this.
Still, I didn’t hate the film, though I didn’t find it very memorable either. What this did do is have me question what is next for this Fear Street franchise. There are numerous stories they can choose from, but most importantly, I hope Netflix realizes they need to step up their game. This is a great time for horror, and there are several quality horror films coming out every month, so if Netflix wants to compete, they need to do some serious quality control.
